great is thy faithfulness

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high?... He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:6,8  

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Leader: Sing to God, sing praises to his name;  lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him!

People: Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 68

Leader: God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

People:  Blessed be the Lord,  who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 68

Leader: Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

People:  O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord.

All:  Awesome is God from his sanctuary;  the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.  Blessed be God!

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 68

If It Had Not Been for the Lord on my Side

Rejoice in the Lord AlwaysIsrael Houghton

Father God, Loving Lord Jesus, you came to seek and to save the lost. You invite the weary and burdened to rest. You heal the hurting. Yet we confess that we have lost our way. Forgive our small thoughts about you and our willful disobedience against you. Forgive our selfish ways, words and deeds that have hurt others and dishonored your name. Heal the pain we have caused. Grace us with your Holy Spirit and lead us, in this New Year, in the way that leads to life. Amen.   

Confession of Sin

Silent time for personal confession

Be Thou My Vision

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1-2

HOW SHOULD I PRAY?

Jan 6 – MeditationJan 13 – Corporate PrayerJan 20 – Personal PrayerJan 27 – Praise/Adoration/Confession/Repentance

Why Do Bad Things Happen to GOD’s People?Insights from the Book of HabakkukPlus How to Read and Interpret Prophetic Writings

Sundays 10:10 AM In the Fellowship Hall

Scripture ReadingJames 1:27-2:13

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

2  My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 

2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 

Scripture ReadingJames 1:27-2:13

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?7Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

Scripture ReadingJames 1:27-2:13

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

Scripture ReadingJames 1:27-2:13

11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Scripture ReadingJames 1:27-2:13

Celebrating…..Building…..Serving

Celebrating the reconciling work of Jesus Christ

Building grace-filled Disciples

Serving Pen Lucy, Baltimore & the world

Celebrating…..Building…..Serving

1 Corinthians 11

17 ¶ But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

23 ¶ For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.

28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

1) Remember the Person of the Table "For I received from the Lord. What I also delivered to you.“ vs 23

2) Remember the Passion of the Table. “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” vs 24,25

”O sweet exchange! That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single Righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!”

Epistle to Diognetus, 130AD

Kingdom Values of FCF

Rejoicing- Worship

Reconciling-Community

Reaching-Witness

Restoring-Justice

Renewing-Scripture

Relying- prayer

Reconciling Community

Renewing Scripture

Rejoicing Worship

Restoring Justice

Reaching Witness

Relying Prayer

Jesus

We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. Colossians 1:28

3) Remember the promise of the Table.

"This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me….. This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

vs 25,26

4) Remember the proclamation of the Table

“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” vs 27

“ The very purpose of this self-giving on the cross was not just to save isolated individuals and so perpetuate their loneliness, but to create a new community whose members would belong to him, love one another and eagerly serve the world. This community of Christ would be nothing less than a renewed and reunited humanity, of which he as the second Adam would be head. It would incorporate Jews and Gentiles on equal terms. In fact it would include representatives from every nations. Christ dies in abject aloneness, rejected by his own nation and deserted by his own disciples, but lifted up on the cross he would draw all men to himself.”

John Stott

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”  

Isaiah 1:16, 17